A smallsat Mars mission that had to revise its plans after it lost its initial ride has won NASA approval to move into full-scale development.

SpaceNews

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 28, 2021
Launch of a SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying part of a robot that could help perform routine tasks for astronauts on the International Space Station was postponed early Saturday morning because of storms near the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. "Weather is not in our favor today," SpaceX production supervisor Andy Tran said during a live webcast of the launch attempt. "The vehicl

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 28, 2021
California-based Astra Space, a small, relatively new rocket company, failed in flight Saturday after a launch from Alaska supported in part by the U.S. Space Force. The rocket "suffered an anomaly" about 2 1/2 minutes after liftoff from Kodiak shortly after 6:30 p.m. EDT, the company said, not elaborating on what happened. The failure followed an aborted attempt the day before,

Astra’s third attempt to reach orbit failed Aug. 28 when its Rocket 3.3 vehicle struggled to get off the launch pad and eventually failed in flight.

SpaceNews

The head of the U.S. Space Force launch enterprise said it is “unfortunate” that Blue Origin is taking far longer than expected to complete the testing and production of BE-4 rocket engines for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle.

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Aug 29, 2021
A SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying part of a robot that could help perform routine tasks for astronauts on the International Space Station was launched early Sunday morning from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Launch of the resupply mission, with 4,800 pounds of goods for the space station, was at 3:14 a.m. EDT Sunday. The robotic arm is the feature of the resupply mission

El Segundo CA (SPX) Aug 27, 2021
The U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command recently declared the eighth GPS III satellite as "Available for Launch." This significant accomplishment officially marks the third space vehicle within the GPS III program to be declared available for launch in the past three months. GPS III SV06, SV07, and SV08 are now awaiting official call up for launch in Lockheed Martin's GPS III Processi

San Antonio TX (SPX) Aug 27, 2021
A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) experiment was performed aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital rocket, which launched from Van Horn, Texas Thursday. Five variations of the tapered liquid acquisition device (LAD), which is designed to safely deliver liquid propellant to a rocket engine from fuel tanks, were aboard the rocket to evaluate their performance in microgravity. The tap

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 26, 2021
Orbit Logic's award-winning SpyMeSat mobile app (available in the Apple App Store and Google Play) now includes an augmented reality (AR) interface for better awareness of overflying imaging satellites! The AR view overlays the orbit and position of satellites that can image your location, providing a better understanding of satellite viewing geometry and potential obstructions; e.g., to k

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Aug 26, 2021
Astroscale's End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) successfully tested its ability to capture its client spacecraft using the servicer's magnetic capture system, in a demonstration performed on Wednesday, August 25 (UTC). A major challenge of debris removal, and on-orbit servicing in general, is docking with or capturing a client object; this test demonstration served a